#TRACKTWEET with OY-KBE CPH-PMI-CPH
How fun wasn’t that!!!

Picture by aerosoft.com

2 weeks ago, 24th May 2015, we did a #tracktweet day in cooperation with our friends at FlightRadar 24! And what a success it was. Many of you requested some kind of summary, with all the pictures and text condensed at one place. This post does in no way cover every interaction and isn’t complete, but I’ve tried to give you a rough view of how it all evolved. To my knowledge, this was some kind of a “worlds first”, and I’m delighted over the massive response. Hopefully, we’ll do it again sometime? It all depends on the interest from you, of course! Next time we’ll take this experience with us into the next #tracktweet in order to enhance the event even further. If you want to skip right through and go directly to all the photos, scroll all the way down in this post or check Photos/Feature/#TRACKTWEET via the menu! I hope you’ll enjoy it!?

Sometimes you can just feel it – Other times it just surprises you! The weather can change rapidly, and it’s vital for a pilot to learn the signs…I took a couple of pictures this week before leaving Frankfurt Airport. We were parked at “pole position” B10, which can be a thrill to squeeze into! Hope you enjoy this little sample of different exposures and angles?!

Thanks for your question, Jakob Andresen @drnyheder ! I made a promise to answer it in simple terms. Not easy – I’ve made one quick explanation and one, slightly more, in depth! Enjoy!

The very short story (138 words)

The Airbus 320 is a fly-by-wire aircraft, transmitting the pilots’ inputs electrically from the side stick, via computers, to hydraulic and electrical actuators. These actuators moves the ailerons, rudder etc. The system saves weight, maintenance costs and gives an opportunity to program the computers in a way to optimize safety. There are lots of safety protections, keeping the aircraft within a certain envelope. You can make a full side stick deflection and get the most out of your aircraft’s performance. You cannot stall this aircraft unless there is something wrong with certain vital systems, such as electrical or hydraulic failures. Even then, you still have a lot of protections. The STALL warning is said to be heard on Air Asia QZ 8501 voice recorders, which makes it plausible to believe that the aircraft isn’t in its “normal state”.

Airbus 320 Side Stick

A 320 Fly-by-wire: The short story

Fly-by-wire

The Airbus 320 series is a state of the art fly-by-wire aircraft. A fly-by-wire system has many advantages and is the norm for today’s fighter jets. It’s lighter, more reliable and can be programmed to facilitate various features through programs in its many computers. In the Airbus, you control the aircraft with a side stick which transmit the pilot’s inputs, via electrical signals, through computers and all the way to the hydraulic or electric actuator in the other end.

Conventional aircrafts needs to be stable and has its basic heritage from the very first aero planes made over 100 years ago. On the other hand a fly-by-wire aircraft can be instable if you want – You just need to program the computers right. You can add protections against over speed, make it impossible to stall and make it easier to handle wind shears and other hazards. If you experience a wind shear close to ground, a perhaps lethal setup can be handled by an Airbus pilot by just give max thrust and pull the side stick full aft. This will give you max performance under most conditions. It’s very impressive.

NORMAL LAW

The Airbus 320 have numerous safety features programmed into its computers. When everything works as it should, you are in NORMAL LAW. That means all protections are there for your benefit. The aircraft is controlled by a load factor demand. With a neutral side stick (no input), the system maintains 1G. – If you tilt the side stick to the left and then set it to neutral again, you make a roll demand resulting in up to 33 degrees bank which can be sustained until you decide to do something else. You can actually let go of the stick and the aircraft will keep the bank and altitude (if no wind) until the fuel runs out. If you fly too fast, the aircraft will pitch up when you reach a certain limit, and the aircraft won’t get overstressed. There are many of these features in NORMAL LAW, and this was just some examples. It’s a different way of flying and as a pilot you need some practice before you get the hang of it.

ALTERNATE LAW & DIRCET LAW

These “laws” comes into play when some systems doesn’t work as it should. There are some protections in some modes, but not as extensive as in NORMAL LAW. There is also a backup function that still works when the aircraft is lacking most of its electric or hydraulic systems etc. When one of these laws comes into play, you can stall the aircraft and that’s why I can conclude that AIR ASIA QZ 8501 had some other problems than just the weather.

ABNORMAL ATTITUDE LAWS

In case of an unpredictable extreme event, when the flight parameters goes far beyond limits, specific control laws are activated for recovery and safety.

Some of these extreme parameters are:

Bank angle above 125 degrees

Pitch attitude above 50 degrees

Etc.

These are attitudes that could be experienced in an extreme thunderstorm/squall line when the aircraft is actually out of control.

For the record: Observe that this text is very simplified and doesn’t describe the complicated fly-by-wire system of an Airbus 320.

Human Factors Focus Part 1

I’ve been studying and teaching Human Factors & Crew Resource Management (CRM) for more than a decade. It’s very interesting, and I’m often thrilled to be able to deal with these complex matters. I’m a believer of case studies and I’m all against hindsight and biased investigations. I hope you’ll enjoy reading about some hints and suggestions in this “Human Factors Focus” series in order for you to achieve a deeper knowledge about Incident/Accident investigations. I’m very grateful to Professor S. Dekker, who a long time ago introduced me to Human Factors and a new way to look upon Human Errors.

Nowadays, there are way too many so called “experts” that immediately shares their views about recent accidents in the tabloids. The focus in this series isn’t to elevate all of you into “aviation experts” but for you to achieve some basic knowledge in order to disregard some of the more wild theories published. I’ll try to give some examples involving the Airbus 320-series. This is one of the absolute safest aircrafts in the world. However, since I’m flying the A320 myself, I believe that it’s easier for me to understand what really happened, what the instruments’ would have shown and how the aircraft probably behaved. In turn, this makes it easier for me to explain it in normal terms to you. Yes, there will be expressions that you’re probably not familiar with – But, you’ll get the big picture!

Air Asia QZ 8501

Since I just read about the developments concerning Air Asia QZ 8501 today, I can conclude that many of the suspicions points to a “possibility of plane damage and human factors.” This is not uncommon, it’s more or less standard procedure today. There are several reasons for this, which I will highlight in this “Human Factors Focus” series later on.

US Airways 1702

Later in this series, we’ll also have a look at the incident with US Airways flight 1702 from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale, 13th of March 2014. The first reports said that the aircraft experienced a blown tire during the takeoff roll followed by a gear collapse. Some others blamed a sudden wind shear. The takeoff was aborted and evacuated without any major injuries to the passengers and crew. The pilots were considered heroes, and the received praise for their quick and resolute decisions. “Probably, numerous lives were saved thanks to the quick and resolute actions by the pilots” etc. Well, this discussion goes on for quite some time in media.

NTSB/FAA has now released information pointing in another direction. The final report will be published within a month or two, but already now, the praise for the pilots has turned sour. Now, it’s called “pilot error” and the crew is all of sudden in “bad standing”.

This material and opinions are my own, and NOT in any way connected to my employer, Scandinavian Airlines System. English is my second language, so if I, by any means, offend you with this written text or visual material, it’s unintentional and I apologize for that.

Feel free to comment and ask questions – I’ll try to answer when I find the time!

Naples

This is a short photo session that took my breath away. The surroundings, the volcano, the light this evening in Naples – it just made me happy! Hope you like it as much as I did. I have a clip from the approach as well – hoping to post it soon under VIDEOS!

You can of course also find the gallery at PHOTOS/AIRCRAFT EXTERIOR/NAP on GND.

Who is SAS Captain?

My passion, except flying, is teaching and instructing. I'm a Commander at the Airbus 320-series and I've been an instructor since 2002, developing and teaching Crew Resource Management (CRM). CRM concerns such different topics as Decision Making, Situation Awareness and Communication. Aero planes are great, but it's the human inside the system, coping with different situations and goals, that thrills me!